Election Day

I can’t vote this Thursday in the most important General Election in my lifetime, because Sevenoaks, in its Tory wisdom, has decided not to give me the postal vote it did three years ago for the Brexit Referendum. I have sent a number of emails appealing this, but all have been ignored. It is no surprise, but extremely disappointing. Who would I have voted for? I’m still not sure, but these are my thoughts at the moment:

Conservative (a.k.a. Tory, a.k.a The Nasty Party): The incumbents, in the bluest-of-blue seats, and I have voted that way before. Now? Absolutely not. The party has been in power for nearly 10 years, in one way or another, and has somehow dragged Britain into its worst state in my 66 year lifetime. From Cameron’s shoddy Coalition, through his cowardly sole Premiership that bequeathed the entire Brexit shitshow and divided still further an already divided country, before walking away and handing May the poisoned chalice, the Party has earned its Nasty Party soubriquet. It now has comfortably the worst leader in my lifetime, one Boris Johnson, thanks to the votes of forty odd thousand Tory faithful out of a population on 60million. A strange kind of Democracy.... The man is a charlatan and a buffoon. This legendary orator is nothing of the kind: his campaign speeches are usually an incoherent mess of crummy campaign slogans - “Get Brexit done!” (what does that really mean exactly?), or “Britain deserves better!” (yes, after 10 years of Tory mismanagement) – or outright lies: “The NHS is not for sale” (so why did you not correct Trump when the Orange One stated it should be on the table for the US trade negotiators?), “No tax rises” (then how will you meet your billions and billions of pounds of campaign promises, Boris?), and “No border checks in the Irish Sea or at the present border” (you might want to check with Barclay, your Brexit Secretary, about that, Boris – and in any case why trumpet a deal you said (when proposed two years ago by the EU27) should never be signed by any PM?). Dead in a ditch? Leave on 31 October? The lies just come pouring out unchecked. He and his party are morally bereft and simply unfit for office.

Labour Party (a.k.a The Red Menace, a.k.a. The Corbynistas): Back in the day, I voted for them, when Tony Blair genuinely offered something different, and I have no regrets about doing so. A lot has changed in the party and the nation since then, but I think some of Jezza’s ideas this time are worth consideration. Taking the railways back into state control could make a huge improvement after 30 years of decreasing standards and spiralling prices as a hotch-potch of franchises. A Bill to safeguard the NHS from any future trade negotiation ever, as long as spending and recruitment and organization are not cut further, very much needed. Another Referendum on Britain’s EU relationship is clearly needed, provided it comes with a proper choice and sensible, reasoned discussion rather than a tissue of lies and misrepresentations from both sides of the argument, and may go some way towards healing some of the divisions. Here Corbyn’s idea of an “honest broker” in the referendum campaign seems to be a good one – the doubt is whether he is the right person for the job. My view is someone from outside the country (indeed outside Europe generally) would be ideal – a Kofi Annan figure perhaps? Corbyn has been a great back-bencher, with a lifelong record of supporting vulnerable minorities who are rarely recognised by senior politicians of either main party (until their vote is needed), but as a leader he has not been particularly good – indecisive and seemingly incapable of striking a clear position on many issues (especially Brexit). He may rise to the importance of a premiership, but I doubt it.

The Liberal Democrats (a.k.a. LibDems, a.k.a. Who?): I have voted for these guys too, long ago, when they and the SDP seemed to offer a very real alternative to Tory or Labour government, and would be very tempted to do so again now. They are the only party (apart from the Scottish Nationalists and Plaid Cymru) standing on a clear Stop Brexit ticket, but still carry some excess baggage from their recent Coalition adventure with Cameron. Jo Swinson was a brave choice as leader, but lacks experience at the top level (and also carries baggage from that Coalition – God, what a mess it was, with the benefit of hindsight!) but is at least young and enthusiastic. The party is also the only one that has consistently, for many years, been a proponent of the electoral reform that in my view is so desperately needed to fix a broken system that is rigged against the smaller parties and their followers ever having any meaningful say in the governance of this country, and ensures a Tory or Labour government even when neither party is, as now, fit for office.

The Brexit Party (a.k.a. Tory Lite, a.k.a. The Farage Pension Fund): No. Just – NO. Led by a serial loser (7 elections fought, 7 times rejected) with a big mouth, shady mates (Trump and Johnson for instance) and no coherent policies apart from leaving the EU at ANY price (the clue is in the name), and with a much shrunken list of candidates no-one has ever heard of (apart from Farridge’s best mate and fellow foghorn Tice) the party is a One Trick Pony that would be laughable in any other circumstance. It seems their support is withering as its Brexit zealot camp followers realise the Tories have much the same aims under Johnson, and with benefits of scale more likely to deliver if they obtain a working majority. I suspect the Brexit Party will go the same way as Farage’s other project, UKIP (remember them?) - wiped out in the election, never to be heard of again. Which will be good.

The really small parties (basically the Greens and The Independent Group for Change, numbering three MPs between them), plus a handful of independents not affiliated to any party or group, are worthy attempts at doing things differently, and share with the LibDems an appetite for stopping Brexit, electoral reform and environmental issues that are potentially far more important to the planet as a whole than Brexit will ever be, but seem to be hamstrung by a lack of resources (human and otherwise), a lack of candidates or organizational structures. I’m not sure any of them are standing in Sevenoaks, so couldn’t vote for them in any case.

I’ve watched most (but not all) of the televised debates, and very depressing the experience has been. It says a lot for the state of the political landscape in Britain that the stand-out performers (at least to this viewer) have been the SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon and, to a lesser extent. Plaid Cymru’s leader Adam Price, neither of whose parties are eligible to stand in English constituencies. Both have spoken passionately and coherently about the issues dominating this election (especially with respect to their own nations), raising concerns that are relevant to all of us. Both have also been able to score points off the other parties - they have been willing and able to call out messrs Johnson and Farage, in particular about their various and many excesses and untruths. I expect both parties to gain seats this time around, which should enable them to hold more sway in the new Parliament.

But by and large, there is an absolute dearth of what I can only describe as statesmanship across the board. Politics today is all driven by sound-bites and slogans, by dissing the opponent rather than by cogent discussion, nnd in my view that is why we are in such a mess. Too many Honourable Members are happy to play to the gallery, and not debate properly the business they are elected to perform – namely, govern this country. No-one seems able or willing to listen to another’s point of view or concern, never mind accept it and adapt policy. Our “first past the post” electoral system guarantees that minority views that in my view deserve due consideration (as they are given in most other democracies) are consigned to the dustbin before their elected representatives in the small parties have even taken their hard won seats. In one of the debates, Farage stated (to paraphrase) that we are living with a 19^th century electoral system that is not fit for our 21^st century world. It’s possibly the most sensible thing the man has said in his entire life, but nobody in either panel or audience seemed to pick up on it.

But he is absolutely right – something has to change, and introducing some form of proportional representation to guarantee a say for the smaller parties would be a start. With that comes coalition government and consensus politics – in other words, our Members would be working together, cross-party, on behalf of all us, not just their particular constituents. People would have to discuss matters properly and in detail, sensibly and without playing to the gallery (so let’s make a start by dumping the television cameras and reducing the Press corps). They would need to accept COMPROMISE – it should never be considered a dirty word, as has too often been the case this past decade or more. It might even get things done in a manner that the entire country can accept and welcome, to everybody’s benefit, and result in a fairer and better and more wealthy society eventually. But that is for the next generation, not mine, or even the one after that, for these changes will take years to achieve.

You lucky voters have an opportunity to start the changes that is denied to me. Use it wisely. Reject the confrontational politics espoused by the major parties – in this day and age there is no place for it, when so much important work needs to be done. Forget Brexit, compared to climate change, widespread industrial pollution, the need to move away from a carbon economy, a properly funded and managed NHS and so many more things are way more important.

A vote for Conservative or Labour seems to me a vote to perpetuate the status quo, when that is the last thing our country needs. A vote for the Brexit party is, very simply, a completely wasted vote, for the party has no viable future. A vote for any other candidate, whether the Liberal Democrats, the Greens or an unaffiliated independent, is a vote for change. I may well be wearing my rose-tinted spectacles again (most football fans and all optimists own several pairs), but in my view change has to come, sooner rather than later.

Start the ball rolling on Thursday.